Why so many figures?

[Sardoo]

Ambition + time = lead mountain!

[armchairgeneral]

One’s enthusiasm out paces one’s painting speed.

[HerbertTarkel]

@Storm Wolf. Yes, that’s what I meant. I jumped off the GW bandwagon years ago but have missed out on other things. Stuff that I’ve thought I’ll pick up later but missed out when they go OOP. Never again.

That, too. There are certainly lines that I have missed; there’s often a reasonable person out there to offer up the stuff later.

Some things are just impossible to find though - the three sets of Paranoia! miniatures by Mongoose for example, are something I wish I hadn’t sold. Just impossible to get now.

[Citizen Sade]

Bummer. The troubleshooters & bots sets are worth having. Lots of their Dredd range too. Maybe they’ll resurface again in future though licensing may be an issue.

[HerbertTarkel]

Bummer. The troubleshooters & bots sets are worth having. Lots of their Dredd range too. Maybe they’ll resurface again in future though licensing may be an issue.

The troubleshooter with the vacuum, and the one with the big hole in his chest - classic sculpts 

I would love to see them back, anywhere. One of the very few genuine regrets in selling stuff!

[FifteensAway]

An excellent question, Inkpaduta. 

The why's?  Well, one is acquisitiveness that was going full bore in the 1990s for those of us who lived through that time with a disposal income - and I know for certain it wasn't just me, know many folk who went for the same ride.  Two, there is an addictive element to the hobby.

But primarily in my case it was that mentioned enthusiasm outstripping reality of time, table space, and storage space.  Had fun collecting, now it is time to have fun "un"collecting.

I've said this here on LAF in other places recently but I think it belongs in this thread more.  After a couple of decades of collecting large quantities of figures for many periods of history - and one foray in to Star Wars ongoing (I count pre-history as an adjunct of history), I realized I needed to just stop or at the very least slow down dramatically.  My first step in that direction was abandoning years ago the print magazines and the temptation that came with them.  Then it took a long time - far too long, and too many figures and a few extra periods - to finally cross the bridge and start taking action.  Renting a storage facility was a big moment of realization I had too much stuff.  And the turning point was recently running my first Old West Fistful of Lead game - I just didn't have more than I needed, I had ten times more than I needed.  And once I started making hard decisions there, the decisions started to multiply and I am now looking at all of my varied sub-collections with the goal of drastically dropping the total number of figures owned.  It went from a hard decision to a grand internal sigh of relief.  I know - zero doubt - I will enjoy the hobby more with less.  And that is because a larger percentage will be painted faster (larger percentage because the collection will be smaller) and thus more time to put the figures on the table for a game.  And that, in my case at least, is the ultimate goal.

And a caution for the manufactures who think this mind set is wrong - what would you rather have: ten customers who collect huge numbers of figures or 100 customers who collect less each but the same total in aggregate?  If you chose the former, you really need to study marketing more.  One hundred customers will breed a lot more potential new customers than ten ever will.  Also, while it is impressive to see massive collections of figures - it can also warn people away from the hobby who don't want to get in that shaky boat.

Can't speak to those who came out of the mega-company machine, never bought into that crazy way of being.  Bad enough that there are so many of what I call 'wind sock gamers' out there who twist and turn with every new fad that comes along but to have companies purposefully exploiting that leads to some strange places from my 'outside of that world' viewpoint.  And I'm not saying the companies shouldn't do what they do, new product is the life blood of most business models.  Just - how many times do they expect one person to abandon System A for System B for System C for System D ad nauseum (and, of course, I know it might not always be abandoning but setting aside for something new)?

So, Inkpaduta, I think you are on the verge of a turning point.  Go ahead and turn the wheel, you aren't on a cliff, just a new road with new vistas to open up in front of you.

Figures owned: 40,000+
Figures painted: 10,000+
Figures to paint: 30,000+
Next birthday age: 68

See the challenge?  No?  See your optometrist! 

And truth in advertising - I am still acquiring but just buildings and scatter terrain for what I already have, all courtesy of the 3D pre-printed product world.  Though with recent few orders, I really don't have much else to even imagine I need - the 'right' Old West courthouse will tempt me.  After that, nope, no after that.

[Inkpaduta]

I hear you. I have already decided not to buy anything new this year.
I have so much not that never seem to make it to the table. But,
I will admit, it is hard to stay true to my plan.

[Sunjester]

When I started wargaming a wise old gamer at my club told me that if a wargamer painted all his figures, he would die. I took that to heart and view my unpainted stuff as a form of medical insurance. 
At lease that's what I tell my wife.

[HerbertTarkel]

When I started wargaming a wise old gamer at my club told me that if a wargamer painted all his figures, he would die. I took that to heart and view my unpainted stuff as a form of medical insurance. 
At lease that's what I tell my wife.

Spoken for truth! 

[JollyBob]

I just like them. 

[Belligerentparrot]

My first step in that direction was abandoning years ago the print magazines and the temptation that came with them. 

I've found this really helps. Not just print magazines in my case but also instagram accounts. I'd see people making great kitbashes of sci-fi stuff and think "What a cool idea, I could do that". Not replicate it exactly, just the same idea. E.g. John Blanche's hive world workers - I see them, I think great idea, I want to make my own bunch. Next thing I know, a project I thought I'd finished just got bigger 

The inspiration from those sources is great, but now I only go looking at that stuff when I need inspiration, not on a weekly/fortnightly basis.

One other thing to contribute is that, for some of us, me included, collecting a full set of some oop range is part of the fun in itself. I don't mean just acquiring stuff, but waiting (very) patiently for some rare old mini to appear on ebay or a forum at a decent price. It is kind of a hobby in its own right.

[FifteensAway]

Re: Sunjester's post - and, of course, I know there is some jocularity there.  It has become a well-known and grey bearded, and a very, very long beard at that, cliche I've read scores and scores of time over the years.

However, death will come to us all no matter how many unpainted figures we have. 

And I saw what I hope is the worst example there will ever be locally last year.  A gentleman not previously known to any of the Northern California gaming community (from Fresno north to the Oregon border - I know a great majority of the community if sometimes only in passing), passed away. 

His out of state nephew connected with someone I've known for decades and he and I undertook to assist in the disposition of the collection, me more in an assistant capacity.  And no joke at all, just the miniatures would have filled from side to side, top to bottom - no space to squeeze in an additional single piece of paper -  a 10' x 10' x 10' cubed space and probably double that.

There were literally a couple of dozen boxes of figures, mostly unpainted that had not even been opened since the early 1990s.  And scores more boxes, maybe a 100 more and probably more in the equivalent.  Apparently the man had descended to a state of 'hoarder' before he passed, the entire house so jam packed with stuff that there were only narrow aisles to move - according to his nephew.  And he lived alone, only one estranged daughter from a woman he never married.  Took from March to end of August to dispose of everything hobby related including at the end sending a half dozen stacked pallet loads - yes, pallet loads - to a company that buys full collections for disposal.

Yes, some of his collection was painted - likely from many varied hands.  But I'd say 80% was not.  And it did seem he was in as some sort of business as much as a hobbyist.  He certainly was running a book business, that is known for sure.  No exact count is known, far too much, but a conservative estimate is 75,000 figures, maybe 15,000 painted.  Apparently he was active decades earlier in the hobby in Southern California.  And he had served in the US military at least as high as a major and perhaps a lieutenant colonel.  So his 'fall' was pretty dramatic in the end.

The moral of the story?  Don't end up being 'that guy' - even if writ smaller - and leave such a massive mess for your family to clean up after you pass.  That is yet another - and very powerful - reason I am on the reverse journey of 'un'collecting having so much stuff. 

If I achieve my goal, when I kick off this mortal coil of life, whatever I have left I hope is all fully painted and carefully boxed according to period so that it will be much easier to dispose of.  And take a third of the storage space it does now.  And I won't care if it is given away or sold - won't matter to me in my end state, now will it?  But I'm sure my heirs and assigns will appreciate it all being in such a state rather than some mass of disarray (actually, in pretty good order now, just vastly TOO much).

Humor is always appreciated, but I think it wise to take Inkpaduta's question seriously.  Unless you are one of us who can fit your whole collection in a few shoe boxes.  To those, I applaud your restraint - or think you slightly nuts to have so many 2 mm figures!   

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

Figures remain a lot cheaper and  more entertaining than collecting silver cow creamers.

[Atheling]

Dopamine.

[Khusru2]

For me, it is mainly about choice. Which army would I like to put on the table? Or, which game would I like to play?
Now, playing solo for many years means both sides to collect.
I have:- ancients, renaissance, Napoleonic, F&IW, VBCW,  WW2 Bolt Action, Vietnam. Plus Fantasy and Sci-fi.
Some in 6mm, 25mm, 28mm.
I have a few part sprues and the odd 6mm figure to paint should I wish.
It is part collecting, but mainly choosing a different setting and different problems